Wing Shya was born in Hong Kong in 1964. As a mischievous and rebellious youngster in secondary school, Shya would often cut classes at the Salesian School. In 1985, he met Jan Lamb and Eric Kot and formed a band together while the three were studying graphic design at the Caritas Bianchi College of Careers. Shya then enrolled in Lee Wai Lee Technical Institute in 1986 before studying abroad at Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design in Vancouver, Canada, forming a design company with classmates. After graduation, he worked at the design firm Pentagram in the U.S. He returned to Hong Kong in 1991 and worked at Walter Thompson Advertising Agency, later entering and winning first prize at the Contemporary Hong Kong Art Biennial Exhibition. Through Lamb’s introduction, Shya joined Commercial Radio Hong Kong as creative director. Aside from graphic design and stage design, Shya also designed album covers and dabbled in fashion/advertising photography. In 1997, he founded Shya-la-la Workshop, which was responsible for photo albums of stars like Leslie Cheung, in addition to directing music videos. It did not take long for the multi-talented Shya to become an award-winning photographer and designer.

His first foray in film came with the opportunity to serve as cinematographer for Lamb’s short film, Out of the Blue (1995). He was later hired to be still photographer for Wong Kar-wai’s Happy Together (1997), In the Mood for Love (2000) and 2046 (2004). Shya also took stills for the films Okinawa – Rendez-vous (2000), Love on the Rocks (2004) and The Moss (2008).

In 2001, Shya directed Kidnap, one of three segments of the omnibus film, Heroes in Love. In 2003, he directed ten episodes of the web series 20/30 Dictionary.

In 2006, Shya shot the production stills for Alexi Tan’s Blood Brothers in Shanghai. Later, he and writer/director Tony Chan came up with idea for the film Hot Summer Days during a casual conversation. The resulting film was released in 2010 and earned about RMB 140 million in the Chinese box office. The duo followed that with the sci-fi romance, Love in Space (2011). In 2012, Shya directed Zhou Xun and Jing Bo-ran in the short film I Know You. In 2013, he was cinematographer for the Roy Chowdirected Rise of the Legend.